Culture Crash: A New Future for Comic Book Movies

Welcome to Culture Crash, where we examine American culture – what’s new and old in entertainment.

The comic book movie landscape appears to be transforming. It’s no secret that comic book movies absolutely dominate at the box office; Last year, the top-grossing movie in the US was Black Panther, while number two was Avengers: Infinity War. And, at the global box office, those two were also the frontrunners, their places were just flipped. 2018 additionally saw smash successes in Aquaman, Venom, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

And it’s that last one that may show us the comic book movie’s way forward. Spider-Verse was released in December and has made over $300 million worldwide. The movie is groundbreaking and fun and truly something unique in a field that can often feel too cookie-cutter. But here’s something a little odd about the movie: it was released right between 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and the forthcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home… but it has nothing to do with either of them. Spider-Man now has two full-fledged film franchises running simultaneously, one of which is populated itself with many different Spider-heroes.

And Spidey isn’t alone! This year will see WB and DC release Joker, which will star Joaquin Phoenix as Batman’s nemesis, the Joker… but is not related to Heath Leger’s iconic turn in The Dark Knight or Jared Leto’s less beloved take on the character in Suicide Squad. And, oh yeah, the character has also appeared in The Lego Batman Movie franchise and the DCEU’s own line of animated films which don’t intersect.

Now, maybe we should have seen this coming. After all, comic books themselves often have overlapping timelines and unrelated storylines running concurrently. But following the success of the MCU’s Avengers films, it seemed that comic movies had settled into this TV-like expansive universe storytelling. But now, the demand for comic book movies has exceeded the bounds of just one continuity at a time. More of these movies are coming, so many more coming. And of course, that might mean a glut of more middling blockbusters. But if these new franchises are all given the consideration and care that Spider-Verse got, well then that’s not a bad thing at all. So, here’s to hoping.

I’m Evan Rook.